NARRATIVE FEATURES OF MEDICINE IN RITA CHARON’S INTERPRETATION

This article analyses the concept of narrative essence of medicine, introduced by a prominent American ideologist of «the narrative turn» in somatic medicine, Doctor Rita Charon. Based on the analysis of philological works on narratology and using universal philosophical categories, Rita Charon points out several narrative features of medical practices. Highlighting such phenomena as narrative ethics in medicine, the gift of emplotment, necessary for differential diagnostics, the importance of singleness etc., Rita Charon makes considerable contribution into contemporary humanitarian research in medicine.